Bangladesh’s request to the Malaysian government to arrest and extradite two individuals for alleged money laundering, extortion and trafficking of migrant workers, and to stop using Bestinet Sdn Bhd’s software comes as a welcome ray of hope. Hope that the criminals behind the recent migrant worker recruitment quota fraud that has resulted in the immense suffering of hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi workers may at last be brought to book. And hope that such egregious acts of human rights violation and crime will not be overlooked.

One of the two individuals is Bangladesh-born Aminul Islam, now a Malaysian citizen, and the founder of Bestinet Sdn Bhd, an IT company that has since 2013 held the coveted lucrative contract for the recruitment and management of migrant workers. Bestinet created the software, FWCMS (Foreign Workers Centralised Management System), an online migrant labour recruitment system that is used by Immigration Malaysia for the recruitment of migrant workers. Aminul Islam’s colleague, Ruhul Amin of Bangladesh is the other individual.

The incidence of corruption, extortion and human trafficking linked to labour migration is nothing new in Malaysia. What sets the 2022 – 2024 quota fraud scandal apart is its scale and brazenness. Over 400,000 Bangladeshis were trafficked into Malaysia on the promise of non-existent jobs based on fake quotas for workers for fictitious companies. This was masterminded by a syndicate comprising top politicians, businessmen, and government officials in both countries that abused the migrant worker recruitment system of Malaysia. A façade of officialdom and legality – in the form of officially approved quotas for workers, individual job offers and contracts – was used to extract exorbitant sums of money averaging RM20,000 as recruitment fees and hire unsuspecting Bangladeshi men.

The ordeal that was to follow, of this huge number of jobless and desperate workers in Malaysia, living in deplorable conditions in different parts of the country, has been called a humanitarian crisis. More than a year after arriving here, some workers have been fortunate enough to be placed in formal employment. But many have run away from the employers they were contracted to, in search of jobs and income to repatriate home to their struggling families and restless moneylenders. And in doing so, they have lost their documented, legal status, and placed themselves at the mercy of exploitative employers, and risk arrest by enforcement officials.
Yet despite this blatantly outrageous situation, no one seems to have been held accountable. Those who were responsible for the misery and exploitation of such a vast number of people, and who have defrauded two governments, are still strutting around in suits, not displaying a shred of decency.

Ironically, as conditions deteriorated for the workers, and redress remained remote, Malaysia got a stunning upgrade to Tier 2 in the 2024 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report issued by the United States Department of State. CSOs were aghast that such a dark period in our labour migration history could earn Malaysia such a promotion. Cynics however, who have always questioned the qualifications of the ranking body were less perturbed. But more was to come. In the same month, June 2024, the Malaysian government extended the contract with Bestinet for another three years! Even though the massive quota fraud scandal that shamed Malaysia internationally happened under their watch. Even though there were serious irregularities in their operations, as was to be exposed a month later by the Public Accounts Committee.

The call by civil society for the Human Resource Ministry to play a central role in enabling redress for the victims, by coordinating a safe and effective avenue through their nationwide network has not been taken up. Instead, the Ministry wants affected workers to use existing SOPs to personally file claims at the labour office nearest them. This is completely unrealistic and unworkable. How can a vulnerable migrant worker – minus passport, money, and dependent on the employer for accommodation and food – be expected to file a complaint against his boss?

But even this impractical recommendation was taken up by civil society organisations, including the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), which helped workers file claims at a labour office for wages, jobs and refund of recruitment fees (as recruitment fees are to be borne by the employer). This attempt has been fraught with challenges, frustration and heartache. Once the complaints were filed, and police reports made to recover their passports, the employer retaliated. He instigated a fight among the workers, and then called the police who swiftly arrested and remanded the handful of workers who had come forward initially to complain. These workers were then evicted from the workers’ hostel. Later, after the labour case began, the bulk of the 60 odd complainants were bussed to the labour court by the employer to withdraw their claims. That has left only 5 workers to pursue their case, the 5 who had been evicted and had no ties with the employer. 5 out of over 400 is a mockery of the right to redress! In addition to this, the PSM itself has been hit with a defamation suit by the employer. It is obvious that only the Human Resource Ministry has the authority and resources to enable the 400 workers, and indeed all the workers who have been conned in this recruitment fraud scandal to pursue their claims without fearing employer interference.

Against this enduring injustice for the workers, and impunity of the perpetrators, Bangladesh’s decision to get to the root of the scandal is truly a positive development. Arresting and extraditing the founder of Bestinet may not be easy, as he is said to have powerful connections to the political elite and the royalty. But it will be in the interest of everyone who cares about good governance to cooperate. As this is an opportunity to hold accountable the people behind a scam based on making profits out of the poorest by violating the systems in place, and thereby criminally breaching the trust placed on them.

Rani Rasiah
11/11/2024